"Ik heb daar gestaan."
Translation:I have stood there.
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No, that loses the information that you were standing. I was there = Ik was daar
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In addition to the translations "I have stood there" and "I stood there", can we make it past progressive and say "I was standing there"? I'm pretty sure that the answer is yes, but I'd like to confirm this, especially in case I try it out in the future and it doesn't work, so I know whether to report it or not.
Good question and still unanswered after 9 months. Or would one have to say: "Ik was daar aan het staan."?
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I was confused by the different uses of "staan". Sometimes its use is the equivalent of the English "to be", so i translated it to, "i have been there." Any guidance?
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It is common practice in Dutch to replace "to be" with the physical position of the person or thing if that can be determined. Typically the positions are sitting, standing and lying.
So I could say "ik zit te eten" to say "I am eating" because I know I always sit down to eat.
So if some people are waiting at a bus stop for their friend one of them could say "wij staan wachten op onze vriend". It is here that "staan" appears to be synonymous with "zijn" or "to be".
